Friday, December 01, 2006

Keeping Strangers Warm

So I have this habit of knitting on things while waiting for the computer. I've mentioned this before. Well, I have two FOs to show for my patience:

In one of the many visits to my parents' house (in Southern Cali/East LA) since the knitting bug infected me, I came home with "A Jo-Ann Exclusive!" Sensations Angel Hair. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. Images of Dr. Zhivago did dance in my head for the longest time. Then I read, on Beth's blog, about this:

I hope I linked the button above correctly, if not, go here.
In one of those treks through LA I got lost, and ended up on skid row. My friend Richard has this entry about his experience down there. I've got to say I was kinda scared myself.

Well, see, I think I was more afraid of being lost in my mom's car in the city I grew up in than of being in skid row proper. I get lost a whole lot, but for some reason if I'm driving someone else's car? I flip out...really. Otherwise, pre cell phone days, I'd gotten some helpful advice from people of all sorts in the worst of locations in LA when first exploring my confines at the ripe ol' age of 17. That was when I was a kid, usually with a carload of friends, and puttering around in a 66 Mustang that had seen better days. Not only did friends make you brave, and youth invulnerable, but the situation down in skid row really had deteriorated from any of memories, good and bad, of my (ahem) colorful youth.

With that in mind I knit up a scarf (pattern) and hat (pattern) to add to the project above. It might be "muppet" fur, but I was so surprised as to how warm and comfy both the hat and scarf are. I find it fitting that I took their picture in the snow. I can still see Laura wearing that hat through the Russian Tundra...or something. (Dr. Z is one we gave my mom eons ago, back when vhs tapes were the rage, and I think she and I watched it maybe 5 or 10 times too many?)

So then I heard about this...almost a little too late if you look at the time frame and all:
Again, here if I've messed up.
So I signed up...if you've been knitting for others and didn't know about them, go there, now! The end date is this Sunday when we will let them know what we've been up to. Obviously, this is the entry I'll be sending them to.

Now, back to working on those hats...

ETA at noonish....it seems bloglines isn't my friend either. I join the masses that have not been picked up by the rss/atomfeed/etc/et al feeder. le sigh.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I finally switched to Newsgator. Bloglines sucks, I am soooo sick of the crappiness.

I'm VERY jealous of your snow, and I like the floofy goodness of the hat and scarf. Good stuff.

Anonymous said...

Your hat and scarf look terrific! I'm working on an Angel Hair hat right now. That yarn is so soft!

I read Richard's account. Very scary. I wish we could knit special hats and scarves that would turn the homeless people's lives around for them.